


Maybe Knock First

by inkberrry



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Comfort, F/M, Fluff, Gen, Gossip, Spoilers, friends being friends, soft moments
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-05
Updated: 2019-08-06
Packaged: 2020-08-12 02:21:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,929
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20126242
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inkberrry/pseuds/inkberrry
Summary: Flayn spots Seteth kissing the professor, and her new friends in the Blue Lion house do their best to calm her down. Back in his office, Seteth deals with the aftermath of her intrusion.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Featuring some Blue Lion kids + Caspar! Also spoilers for Flayn and Seteth's paralogue.

“Are you certain?”  
  
“I am entirely certain!” Flayn, seated with her back straight and arms crossed tight over her chest, answered the question with conviction. She looked at Ingrid standing nearby and her expression gave no hint at softening. “It was them. And they were _kissing_.”  
  
Sylvain chuckled and pulled a chair away from the desk Flayn sat at, making himself comfortable. The small group from the Blue Lion’s had been in the classroom studying when Flayn rushed inside in a huff. All work ceased, and he in particular was glad for the interruption.  
  
“Way to go Professor,” he said, and leaned back in his seat. After very little prodding Flayn had explained what exactly drove her to the state she was in: a trip to her brother’s office and a door opened without knocking. Inside she’d found Seteth leaning across his desk, his hands holding their professor’s face and lips pressed against hers.  
  
“Yeah, good for her, right? She deserves a little fun.”  
  
Flayn’s eyes snapped to Caspar, an unfamiliar wildness in them. She had not expected her fellow students — her friends — to side with the Professor. There was nothing wrong with the Professor, of course, but in this one instance she could not imagine the reasons behind her actions.  
  
“No! No, it is not good for her!” she said, her hair bouncing along her shoulders as she shook her head. “She was _kissing_ my fa — my favorite relative! It is most definitely not good.”  
  
“Whoa, calm down Flayn.” Sylvain slid his chair closer and gently squeezed Flayn’s shoulder. He quickly looked over the others, noting the same look of surprise on all of them. It was unusual to see Flayn so worked up. “The professor is great. I’m sure she’s not gonna hurt your brother or anything.”  
  
“That is not what I am worried over,” Flayn answered with another shake of her head. She looked down at her hands, finally uncrossed and resting in her lap. She squeezed them together, her fingers brushing over each other and refusing to remain still. “He knows better than to fall in love!”  
  
Ingrid sighed, uncertain how best to comfort Flayn. She was no good at these type of things, and just then she wished Mercedes was here with them. She would know what to do. But the responsibility seemed to fall to her, as Sylvain and Caspar were proving to be no help.  
  
“Flayn, I hate to say it but Sylvain may be right,” she said eventually. “We don’t know how things are between the Professor and Seteth. They might not be in love at all.”  
  
Her words didn’t have the effect she hoped, and Flayn’s eyes widened. She saw the younger girl’s shoulders slump, and Ingrid thought some of the fight was leaving her, replaced by something deeper.  
  
“Well that is even worse,” Flayn said, her voice faltering and taking on a quiet, almost despaired tone. “How could he do this?”  
  
“Don’t you complain about him trying to run your life? Stop trying to do the same.”  
  
Flayn and Ingrid both looked over to Felix, who until then had reminded impartial to the commotion. He stood leaning against the far end of the desk, watching them with narrowed eyes. Under his gaze Flayn relaxed a little, and her hands fell motionless back into her lap.  
  
“I…I suppose you are right,” she said. The tension in the room eased almost at once, and for a moment the only sound was the chatter of students passing by outside.  
  
“It’s okay, Flayn,” Ingrid added, and offered Flayn what she hoped was a reassuring smile. “You and Seteth are close. I’m sure he’ll come to you and explain it soon.”  
  
“Yeah, and it’s exciting really! Maybe the Professor will be like, your sister in law!”  
  
“Caspar!” Ingrid shot back, her smile turning to a firm scowl aimed at the newest addition to their little group. “That is not helping.”  
  
“No, it is okay.” Flayn took a deep breath and looked up at everyone around her. A twinge of guilt and embarrassment tugged at her for how she behaved. It had been a long time she she let herself lose control of her emotions like that, especially around others. “I am calm now. And I am sorry, I did not mean to react so vehemently. It is only, the situation is — well it is complicated.”  
  
A wall of understanding expressions looked back at her. There was Ingrid, somewhat uncertain but trying her best; Felix, back to being impartial but occasionally glancing at her; Caspar and Sylvain, all easy smiles and effortless comfort.  
  
“Hey, if you need a shoulder to cry on I’ve got two good ones right—“ Sylvain’s comment was interrupted by Ingrid’s open palm across his arm and the soft smack of skin against cloth.   
  
“What Sylvain is trying to say is that we’re here for you whenever you need us,” she said. “There’s no need to apologize.”  
  
For the first time since entering the room Flayn smiled. A part of her long held in check began to warm, the feeling spreading from her chest to her toes.  
  
“Yes, yes that is true isn’t it? You are all here for me and…and I am very grateful.”


	2. Chapter 2

The door to his study was still, though the reverberating sound of it slamming shut still played in his ears. The interruption came as a surprise, the crash nearly stopping his heart before he could piece together what happened.   
  
Seteth’s hands, a moment ago so comfortably holding Byleth’s face in place, shook with contained emotion as he removed them from the doorknob. Flayn’s hair, vibrant and so much like his own, was the only sight of her he caught when he checked outside the room. She was already gone, the scene she stumbled into causing her to flee as quick as her legs would take her.   
  
Seteth sighed and returned to his desk, where he sat and began to rub his temples.   
  
“Has she forgotten basic banners?” he asked, his voice a mixture of irritation and worry. Irritation for the interruption of what was a very pleasant moment, and worry over what Flayn must now be feeling. “A simple knock would have prevented this entire situation.”  
  
“Has she ever needed to knock before?”  
  
Seteth looked up from the polished wood of his desk and over at Byleth, who despite the tense atmosphere had a smile on her lips. She was still standing where she had leaned across the desk to be kissed, though now she moved around it, sliding up and sitting on its edge close to him.   
  
“I can’t picture you being up to anything shocking in here.”  
  
_Was she teasing him?_ The look in her eyes hinted at yes, and by the goddess he loved that look. It almost made him forget the situation he just put himself in by never reprimanding Flayn of anything. But then, Byleth had a way of eclipsing all else around her even at the most inopportune times.   
  
“I have my moments,” he answered after a breath, the urge rising in him to counter her teasing in any way he could or else she think him dull.   
  
“Oh really?” Byleth cocked her head, notably curious. “You’ll have to explain that.”  
  
Her interest never ceased to amaze Seteth, and at that moment he knew time was coming to an end for parts of himself he walled off. He wanted to tell Byleth everything she asked after, and all the things she didn’t know enough to question. His life, closely guarded, pushed at its restraints and longed for the chance to be released into her care.  
  
“Another time, love,” he said. He brought his hand back to her face, gently brushing his thumb along her cheek and down her jaw. The soft of her skin felt like silk to him: a rare luxury he once thought never to feel again.   
  
When his hand fell back to the desk he sighed a second time, his mind returning to Flayn. She had been his sole concern for so long. It was difficult to hold two precious things at once, though he hoped in time he would remember how.   
  
“I do hope she’s not too upset.”  
  
Byleth shifted closer on the desk, letting her legs brush against his.   
  
“She’ll be okay,” she assured him. There was confidence in her voice, and he realized she knew parts of Flayn he didn’t. The parts she showed on the battlefield and in the classroom, parts that she kept from him. “She’s a lot more resilient than you give her credit for.”   
  
Seteth merely nodded. She was likely right.   
  
A moment passed in silence, Seteth’s mind on Flayn and Byleth and all the ways he’d imagined telling his daughter about their relationship. None of them started like this. While he was in thought a warm hand took hold of his, delicate fingers finding a secure spot.   
  
“Has she — am I…” Byleth’s words stuttered and stopped, much like how she first spoke when she arrived at the monastery. He looked to her again, her eyes hesitant now. “Since your wife. Am I the first person Flayn has seen you with since then?”  
  
The question caught Seteth off guard. They hadn’t spoken much of his wife beyond the basic knowledge he revealed at her grave. There would be a time for that, down the line. The same time he told Byleth everything. For now though, he would give her as much as he could.   
  
“You are the first person I have been with since my wife passed,” he answered. Removing his hand from its grip in Byleth’s, he brought it back to her face. Beneath it he felt her tremble slightly, a rare show of fragility. “It feels now as if I were waiting for you. For a very long time.”   
  
Byleth’s smile returned, gentle and warm and soon covered by his lips. He kissed her slowly, taking notice of each second as it passed. He could spend eternity like this, he thought. An eternity of her hands combing through his hair, brushing across the tips of his ears.   
  
“Seteth…”   
  
His name drew him from his deep focus when Byleth murmured it against his lips. He opened his eyes to see her face, flushed pink under her eyes and along her nose, again watching him.   
  
“Yes, I know,” he said, and reluctantly pulled away. Eternity would have to wait.“I should speak with Flayn. Explain things more clearly. It would cause me pain if she were to view you as anything less than what you are.”   
  
“And what am I?” Byleth asked, and this time it was a question Seteth could easily answer.  
  
“Someone very dear.” Dear to him, dear to her students. He wondered if there was anyone who meet Byleth that she didn’t touch in some way. “I believe you are special to her as well. She will understand, once it is not such a shock.”   
  
Byleth seemed satisfied with his answer, and she glanced back at the closed office door before speaking.   
  
“Will you go now?”  
  
“No, I should think she needs time to calm herself.” Seteth reached out with both hands and held Byleth by the waist, drawing her off the desk and into his lap. From here he could feel her warmth and the unique comfort that rolled off her like mist. He smiled before pressing his lips to the underside of her jaw. “Besides, as I mentioned; I have waited a very long time for you, and here you are now, within reach.”


End file.
